Sonora police arrest hit-and-run suspect on DUI charge

A tip from authorities in Stanislaus County led to the arrest of a 28-year-old local woman in downtown Sonora on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol early Wednesday morning.

The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Modesto Police Department at 2:52 a.m. to check on a Columbia Village Drive address for a black Pontiac SUV suspected of being involved in a hit-and-run that was reported about an hour earlier in the Riverbank area.

Modesto police received a call about 2 a.m. from someone who said a woman driving a black Pontiac SUV had hit their vehicle at Claus Road and Davis Avenue, according to the department’s spokeswoman Heather Graves.

Graves said the caller provided a license plate number and reported last seeing the vehicle at Claus and Claribel roads.

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department deputies searched for the vehicle and asked the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office to contact the registered owner of SUV at the Columbia Village Drive address, Graves said.

According a Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Facebook post, a deputy was driving north through downtown Sonora toward Columbia Village Drive when he spotted the black Pontiac SUV driving south with front-end damage.

Authorities said the woman made several turns through downtown Sonora in an attempt to shake the deputy before he caught up to her at Shepherd and Jackson streets.

Sonora police were contacted at 3:12 a.m. to conduct a DUI evaluation on the driver, said Krishna Livingston, a dispatcher for the Sonora Police Department.

Maurica Walton, 28, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and booked into Tuolumne County Jail about 3:50 a.m.

Sgt. Andrea Benson, spokeswoman for the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, stated in an email that Walton’s blood alcohol level was 0.214 at the time of her arrest, more than twice the legal limit, and she would be released from custody once sober.

Benson stated that the alleged hit-and-run is a Modesto police investigation because it occurred outside of Tuolumne County.